The Youth Association of Kuwait is the mainstream nationalistyouth organization in Kuwait which was founded in 2009 under the name National Democratic Youth Association. It aims to build a new generation of Kuwaitis that are interested in community service and help youth achieve their goals. Also, the association is interested in youth issues such as education, unemployment and youth activism.
History
A group of young nationalists discussed establishing a youth organization in 2006 to improve the cultural and social situation of youth, thus they established the nucleus of what was known later as the National Democratic Youth Association. While most organizations with political alignments backed the Nabeeha 5 electoral remapping campaign in 2006, the association opposed it because it saw it as an unfair redistribution that would marginalize sects of society. In 2009, the association held its first convention and elected an administrative body and approved its bylaws. After that it kick started its activities with a rigorous social agenda defending the freedom of thought by organizing a campaign and meeting members of parliament regarding the problem of unemployment and hidden unemployment with the help of the Graduates' Society and the Women's Cultural and Social Society. Also, the association worked hand-in-hand with other groups tackling human rights and other issues. In 2010, the association, along with the Union of Petroleum Workers and other civil societies, spearheaded a campaign against the government's then proposed privatization plan. It claimed that the plan would effectively destroy the middle and working classes of Kuwait in the long run, describing it as unconstitutional. After its second convention in 2011, the majority of members voted on changing the name of the organization to its current one and adopting social democracy as its ideology along with the Masaruna document. The second convention elected Ahmed Soud, Mohammad Alhasan, Ahmed Abdulraheem, Abdulwahab Alnajdi and Abdulghaphor Asirri. In early 2014, the association organized its third convention at the Women's Cultural and Social Society, appointing Abdulwahab Alnajdi as president of the executive board, Ebrahim Awadh as vice president, Ali Alsalem as secretary and Abdulghaphor Asirri as treasurer. On September 17, 2015, it gained recognition by the Kuwaiti Government and became an officially registered organization with the Ministry Of Social Affairs And Labour.
Organizational structure
The highest authority in the association is its convention which is held every two years. The convention elects an executive board which creates committees and appoints members with special tasks and runs the day-to-day affairs of the association. The current executive board is made of Abdulwahab Alnajdi as chairman, Ebrahim Awadh as deputy chairman, Ali Alsalem as secretary and Abdulghaphor Asirri as treasurer.
Local issues
The association is very active in promoting its agenda, organizing grassroots campaigns and seminars to do so.
The association advocates that it is the right of every higher-education student to have the choice to choose between a co-educated environment and a segregated one, and it does not endorse co-ed itself.
2011 Friday Protests
One of the main events on the political arena in Kuwait in 2011 was the Friday Protests which were spearheaded by Islamist and tribe-backed MPs, in addition to some youth groups. The association did not participate nor endorse the protests because it saw that a lot of corrupt figures were involved in it, nevertheless the association does not deny that it is the right of every Kuwaiti to politically assemble.
2011 MP Bribery Allegations
A newspaper claimed that some MPs might have gained up to 25 Million Kuwaiti Dinars and they are kept in their bank accounts. The association gave a statement to the press demanding that the legislative body should pass information transparency laws and a law for asset disclosure regarding people in leadership positions in the executive, legislative and judicial bodies.
Location
Currently, the organization's headquarters is located in the Woman's Cultural and Social Society in Khaldiya, Block 2, Salem bin Ali Bougamaz Street.
